A native of New York City's SoHo district, Malis attended Stuyvesant High School before graduating from Harvard University. While at Harvard, Malis was an editor for The Harvard Lampoon. In his early career, Malis was an intern and writer for The Howard Stern Show, as well as a joke writer for Joan Rivers. He went on to write and produce reality, variety, and award shows, like Celebrity Undercover, Spy TV, Nick & Jessica's Family Christmas, The Spike TV Video Game Awards, and VH1's Big in 04. He was also a writer/producer on The Biggest Loser, Run's House, Mind of Mencia, Attack of the Show, and Watch This with John Henson before becoming a writer on Comedy Central's Tosh.0 in its first season. Malis now acts as head writer and producer on the hit show.